New draw for frugal Las Vegas visitors: Kitchenettes
Going out to restaurants and buying items from the mini-bar may soon give way to frugal Vegas travelers who prefer to purchase their own items and prepare them in their own hotel room.
The rooms in these hybrids resemble those in hotels in every way, but also have kitchenettes.
The operators of struggling hotels aren’t welcoming the new competition from properties such as Vdara, a 1,495-unit condo-hotel at CityCenter. Its CEO Bobby Baldwin recently said he expects buyers to close escrow on only 175 of those units, with the rest expected to be owned and rented by the company just like any of the other Las Vegas hotel rooms owned by parent company MGM Mirage.
Kingfisher becomes oneworld member-elect
India’s Kingfisher Airline officially becomes a oneworld member-elect after receiving approval from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The carrier already had passed oneworld’s safety audit, the group’s first joining requirement, and started developing bilateral cooperation with several member airlines including a codeshare agreement with British Airways. Kingfisher and oneworld reached an MOU (memorandum of understanding) in February (ATWOnline, Feb. 24).
FAA unveils $10 million lab to be part of NextGen air traffic control research program
The Federal Aviation Administration unveiled a $10 million lab where research will be done to improve aviation safety and efficiency.
The NextGen Integration and Evaluation Capability, or NIEC, lab is named for the Next Generation Air Transportation System that includes the software programs under development at the lab among its conceptual and technological innovations.
NextGen is a multi-billion-dollar federal initiative aimed at updating air travel. Most related research has occurred at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Egg Harbor Township, the FAA’s main development and testing site.
(Photo: CityCenter Press Kit)
Pingback: Tweets that mention What we’re reading: Kitchenettes in Vegas? Kingfisher Airline to oneworld, FAA opens NextGen lab -- Topsy.com